1 Chronicles 22:1-5, 14 Then David said, This is the house of the LORD God, and this is the altar of the burnt offering for Israel.… David was now in the last years of his reign, and these were spent in making preparation for the building of the temple. In order to procure the necessary workmen, he commanded to gather together the strangers in the land of Israel or the descendants of the Canaanites whom the Israelites had not destroyed when they took possession of the land, but had reduced to bondage. The number was so considerable that Solomon was able to employ one hundred and fifty thousand of them as labourers and stone-cutters. Of these David "set masons to hew wrought stones to build the house of God." Solomon was but a tender youth - not yet in his twentieth year - and the work to be executed was so great that David determined to make all the preparation he could himself. The materials prepared were many and costly. Iron, brass, and cedar trees; the two former without weight, for they were so abundant. But of gold there was one hundred thousand talents, and of silver one million talents. As the talent was one thousand shekels, and the shekel according to the Mosaic weight worth about two shillings and sixpence, the silver would thus amount to £375,000,000, and the gold to £450,000,000. This money seems to have been the fruit of the spoils of the wars in which David had been engaged. This enormous sum was at once laid out for the Lord's house. Thus all the accumulation of David's life is here consecrated to God. Thus should it be in the life of every true Christian. His money, his talents, his time, his opportunities, are all the Lord's and are to be consecrated to his service. "Ye are bought with a price." The Christian is in one sense the poorest man in the world, for all he has belongs to the Lord; yet he is the wealthiest, because God himself is his. We have no right to take a walk without it is the Lord's will, nor spend a penny unless as he would have us do it. When a man becomes the Lord's, everything he possessed passes over to him who has bought him. And he is but a steward of all he possesses, and soon to be called to give an account of his stewardship. - W. Parallel Verses KJV: Then David said, This is the house of the LORD God, and this is the altar of the burnt offering for Israel. |
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